I am taking with me some of my favorite people: Molly Lewis, Ken Plume, Joseph Scrimshaw, Phil Plait, George Hrab. We are trucking over from Dragon*Con Monday morning. We are there going to present the live audience in Huntsville, AL with a variety show of terrifically geeky sciencey entertainment, and we will be streaming the show LIVE FROM SPACE CAMP TO YOU.

Here’s the why of this event. It’s a fundraiser for the U.S. Space & Rocket Center Scholarship Foundation. That’s a fancy way of saying we’re raising money to send more kids to Space Camp. There will be stuff you can order, special goodies from Thinkgeek and Space Camp, and everyone who donates $10 or more online during the live stream will be entered to win a bigger prize from Thinkgeek. (Thank you Thinkgeek!) Of course you can just donate too, that’s an option anytime at http://spacecamp.com/rocketfest. But I hope that during this livestream we can flood the gates a little. I want to demonstrate to the folks at USS&RC that the internet is full of people who want to support them.

When I was young, I was totally the scholarship kid at horse camp. I begged and begged my parents, but they couldn’t afford it. When I finally got to take my swim test, saddle up for early morning trail rides, and take my first crack at archery, it was thanks to anonymous strangers who helped to provide scholarships. So there’s a big soft spot in me where summer camp is concerned. It’s not just camp, it’s a big deal for a kid. It’s CAMP.

And this is not just CAMP, it’s SPACE CAMP.

Science has been on my mind this year. I know, I’m a liberal arts nerd, I don’t have much right to step into the science nerd realm. [Insert rant about the overstated divide between “fuzzy” and “techie” and how early a girl is forced to choose.] But in light of Curiosity’s landing, our little Mars invasion — and in light of the shuttle’s last landing and Sally and Neil leaving us — I feel more and more urgency about science education.

No, not education, excitement. Science Excitement needs to become a national priority. We need a tiny bit of moon landing feeling back. A few of us experienced an incredible thrill as Curiosity landed. I want to know how to spread that feeling, to make it more universal and less niche. Because that sentiment is what would help to reorient the U.S. toward invention, discovery, research and development as a public prerogative.

I feel strongly about this (and I’m late to the game, I know, a lot of you have been fighting this fight for decades). And I don’t know how I can do anything to change national sentiment as an individual. But this seemed like a good little place for a singer-songwriter to start. So here I go.

On Labor Day I hope you’ll tune your computer to SpaceCamp.com at 2pm Central and watch our little show, have a look at Rocket Park, even if it’s just on in the background while you barbecue on the deck.

Andif you are within driving distance of Huntsville,I’m talking to you Dragon*Con attendees, consider bringing the family out for the day — Space Camp is throwing a field day from 10am-5pm, complete with rocket launches and bubbles and science demos. The price of admission gets you our show and everything else in Rocket Park. How cool is that? Come sit on the lawn and have a picnic among rockets and be entertained. We definitely need a live audience, so bring the kids and come play. Make a pilgrimage to Space Camp! Especially if you’ve never been. You know you want to!

Last: please, tell everyone. Tell the whole internet. This is just a little tiny thing but let’s get some eyeballs on it. I’ve worked hard to pull it together and I really hope it will be half as beautiful as in my head. Point people to info at http://spacecamp.com/rocketfest, and RSVP or share the Facebook event here. If you can possibly blog about this or otherwise publicize it — DO. The official press release is below.

Stars and stars and stars to all of you — writing from Cincinatti at 3am between concerts —

Marian

P.S. If you are in Huntsville or Atlanta, and you could Minion for me and the other entertainers, we need two volunteers to come along and help out for the day. We can provide round-trip transport from Atlanta, and lunch. Write to marian@mariancall.com if you are interested in going to Space Camp to help. Sound/web/social media skills a plus, we’ll need some of that. Loving Space Camp a double plus.

++++++++++++++

ROCKETFEST
LABOR DAY 2012

When: Monday, September 3, 2012, 9am – 5pm, entertainment at 2pm CentralWhere: U.S. Space & Rocket Center, Huntsville, AL, streaming live at http://spacecamp.comWhat: Rocketfest, a fun filled day of music and family entertainment

On Monday, September 3, the U.S. Space & Rocket Center will host ROCKETFEST. With your paid admission to the Space Center on Labor Day, the whole family can enjoy a fun-filled day. There will be family activities on site like rocket launches, bubbles and science demonstrations; attendees can win prizes from Thinkgeek and enjoy a special concert and variety show in the park.

The entertainment lineup (2pm) will feature nationally renowned musicians George Hrab, Molly Lewis, and Marian Call, along with science and geek culture icons Phil Plait the Bad Astronomer, Ken Plume and Joseph Scrimshaw. All entertainment will be exciting and family-friendly. The festival performance will be streamed LIVE on the web at http://spacecamp.com.

The USSRC is home to Space Camp, Aviation Challenge, The Davidson Center for Space Exploration and world-class traveling exhibits. It is also the official visitor’s information center for NASA – Marshall Space Flight Center. To learn about all of the exciting programs and activities at the USSRC, go to www.rocketcenter.com. The U.S. Space & Rocket Center is a Smithsonian Affiliate.

I only have one serious solo show in Southcentral AK this month, and it’s at one of my favorite venues in the state. If you haven’t heard a show at Vagabond, it’s worth going and bringing friends. Quiet, intimate, one of the best natural acoustic spaces for music anywhere in Alaska, hardly any of amplification needed. Plus great coffee & healthy food. I do hope you’ll come hear this show — I’ve been sort of creating my own venues lately, which is fun, but oh, what a relief to play in a music venue designed exactly for what I do! And this will be a special show for National Poetry Month — if you hadn’t picked up on it, poetry is deeply important to me and to what I do. You may hear some unusual stories & poems! Tickets available online at this link or at Vagabond Blues or Fireside Books. Bring the kids, it’s all ages and kids should enjoy concerts! Facebook event to share here.

4/15/11 Acoustic North AK – Live at the Snow Goose Theater – Streaming Online at Ustream.com

Last year I helped coordinate a showcase of four female singer-songwriters in Anchorage. The show sold out, tons of people watched online, and universally we heard the same thing: Do More Stuff Like This!!!! For a number of folks it was their most memorable concert of the year; I heard those exact words over and over. It was like Mountain Stage or Prairie Home Companion, people said. It was magic.

Why it was magic: we were community. We were experiencing something all at the same time, all together.

So we’re doing it again, but this time with more musicians (boys even!), several poets, and a more serious focus moving forward. I love the touring artists we get through Anchorage. But I want to see our very own local talent on the same great stages in the same quiet venues, not just consigned to noisy bars or background music. We have incredible folks here in Anchorage (so many we couldn’t begin to fit them all on one bill) and I am excited to experience a few of them together in the right kind of place. And you can see this event live in Anchorage, it will be amazing — tickets on sale now at http://mariancall.com, $10-15 — or you can watch it on Ustream, live or after the fact. This will be a show to remember. Facebook event here for the live concert, Facebook event here for the webstream. Invite someone!

Acoustic North AK Poster

Now for some ill-informed ramblings that I’ll likely regret when someone brings up politics in the comments (don’t).

The 49>50 Tour all over the continent taught me a great many things, like how suspicious I should be of Cincinnati chili (60%), how to eat a crab that still has its shell on (cringeing), and how often the GPS is infuriatingly correct (about 98% of the time. Infuriating). But mostly it taught me that our culture is trying really really hard right now to figure out community. That’s why social networking hit a nerve with this poor species and took off so quickly — and that’s why advertising is trying to sell you not shampoo, but a relationship with your shampoo — we’re reaching out for people, for a sense of connection, for sharing. And yet in some ways isolating ourselves more. We can select our company and our entertainment with incredible precision & customization, yet I don’t think that’s quite the route to happiness. Two things have been rattling around in my brain with respect to this Acoustic North show:

1. I love my online world, Facebook, Twitter, &c. I don’t see it as interfering with community — for me it actually creates community. But then — I personally spend a LOT of time going out in real life, with real people, to real events that we share all at once. I chat on Twitter with people and then try to get to a Tweetup or have coffee. I make friends online and then drive several thousand miles to meet them in person, and try to create a real life experience we can have in common — including online Real Time Experiences. (Webstreams and radio, I find, have a more unifying community feel than customized entertainment like Pandora. Why? You’re sharing the listening experience with other people. It’s not just for you. You selfish human you.)

My point is: the Internet is as community-creating or as community-sucking as you let it be. If the Web is sucking your community away from you, if you’re getting Facebook-depressed and refreshing to no effect, then go have an experience together with a lot of other people in real time. If you’re shy, find one that doesn’t make you nervous, possibly even a webstream or online radio that has a strong community. It really really helps. And it scratches far more deeply the itch that social media only begins to reach. Don’t your most satisfying social media experiences happen when, for a brief moment, everyone’s talking or joking about the same thing? (#HollywoodPostItNotes tonight.)

2. I got to see a lot of towns & cities this year. In fact I made a list, and it was short, of decently-sized metro areas in North America that I have not seen after my crazy tour. And towns have different characters. Citizens love to talk about the character of their city & compare it to others, by the way — just ask them what their town’s like and step back.

There are cities and states that have an incredibly strong sense of community and local identity, and there are cities that don’t. This is not a value judgment, it’s a fact, easily observable (if difficult to quantify). Just visit Austin or New Orleans or Joshua Tree for awhile, you’ll feel how much the community is a living, breathing character, and how important it is to the people who live there to participate in and protect and nurture its character. Or just observe the way people behave & think differently about their town during the World Series or Superbowl — oddly I found a very strong strain of localized devotion & sense of community in smaller collegiate-sports-fanatic towns in the Midwest and South, far removed from the Austin or New Orleans sort of music/nightlife culture. Where does this feeling come from? Why did it bother me so much when it was absent? Because it was often absent.

I think part of this sense of community comes from experiencing stuff all together in real time. You know very well the difference between watching a sporting event in the arena, watching it live at home, and watching it recorded later — those three very different degrees of involvement — the depth of connection is about being a part of something at the same time & in the same space as other people. Weather and seasonal changes, which touch absolutely everyone, have the same effect — the unusual environment here in Alaska bonds people together like very few other places I’ve been. We experience so much out-of-the-ordinary stuff all together that even when we disagree vehemently with the Alaskan at the next barstool, we still have an incredible amount in common.

In my very favorite places on the continent, this sense of community translates into (or is it created by?) people going out all the time instead of staying in. Maybe it’s to watch the sunset or the ocean, maybe to run a marathon or play in a pickup basketball game, maybe to hear free or paid concerts a couple nights per week, maybe a friend’s backyard barbecue, maybe it’s going out to the Farmers’ Market — there are cities and small towns where people go out All The Time. And there are places where everyone stays in and the streets are barren. I know which places I feel an immediate connection with as a visitor. I know which I’d pick to live in.

And it’s not about nightlife, or spending money, or subsidizing certain industries, or a certain income or race or lifestyle. Unless that lifestyle is Get Outside Of Your House And Your Head If You Want To Be Fully Human. (Poor communities are sometimes much better about this than wealthy ones — sometimes not.) It’s about crossing the mental hurdle that may keep you from connecting with strangers and getting out of your home. It’s about building and participating in the structures that make it possible for a whole community to get out more — more family-friendly venues, more childcare, more free activities that are actually good, more accessible cabs & transit, &c. Going out doesn’t have to cost a lot of money. And if it does cost a bit — wouldn’t the economy of any town be invigorated by this sort of activity? Isn’t that what every chamber of commerce wants, a vital social life on a broad scale? USE them streets and sidewalks and parks. VISIT your small businesses. Drop a few dollars on a hot cocoa, a few cents on a good busker, and walk down a bike trail, and you’ve participated in the life of your town. And probably made yourself feel more like a person.

For some of you, this is duh. But I know a heckuva lot of folks who need to have this revelation for real.

I feel strong community in Anchorage. Always have. It could and should get better – I’d really like to see the local population turning out a little more for the evening entertainment. We have so much going on that’s underattended (though admittedly lots of it is underpromoted too). I’d love to see more all-ages venues here, and more quiet, grown-up friendly venues. I want to see the average Joe coming out more for music and art here — I know it’s possible from visiting other cities where that is simply embedded in the local culture.

But here’s what I already love about living here: when the sunset is amazing and I’m not too pressed for time, I detour to go watch it. And when I get to my favorite spot by the water, I find dozens or sometimes hundreds of other people already there. When the lunar eclipse occurred, the whole town turned out to look for it in freezing temperatures, and everyone was talking about it the next day. When the aurora went active at 1am on a weeknight and my roommate and I go went a quest to find it, the parking lot at Point Woronzof was already totally full of people of all ages and races. It was a holiday atmosphere. I was rubbing elbows with people different from me, people I likely disagree with, people I rely upon, my fellow Anchorage dwellers. That felt like community. That made me love my city. That, world — we need more of that.

Come out to a show! Get out of your house and go see what’s happening where you live!

(You know you have the internet on your phone anyway. It’s not like you’ll miss anything important happening here.)

It has come to our not-so-royal attention
that some of you in some of these very large cities
still do not have your golden tickets
to the Singular Inc0mparable Bizarre Nerd Revue Spectacular
known as #w00tstock.

The valid excuses that come to mind are Three, and I shall name them:

1. Perhaps you fear the side effects of being in such close physical proximity
to so many of the gods and demigods
of the Pantheon Of Internet Celebrities Who Are Celebrities Because
They Actually Do Cool Stuff
(the finest of the A, B, C, and D-lists will be in attendance).

AND YOU ARE RIGHT TO FEAR.
Your computer screens and smart phones
generally protect you from the full power of their collective blinding Awesome.
But think on this:
your little electronic barriers also insulate you
from the ensuing radiation-induced Superpowers
(and inevitable tragic alienation
and prolonged near-romance with a sexy investigative journalist)
that you’ve always dreamed of.
You’ll never know
if you don’t show.

2. Perhaps you have forgotten that not so very long ago
you begged and pleaded for w00tstock to come and for gods’ sake take the East Coast.
But now that it’s here, you mean to play hard-to-get
for fear w00tstock may not call you in the morning
if you are too easily conquered.
You shameless tease you.

3. Perhaps you do not know what a w00tstock is
but it’s happened a number of times already
and you are embarrassed to ask anymore,
so from time to time you just wait patiently
for everyone to quit bloody #hashtagging about it. #w00t #w00t #w00t

If this is the case,If ignorance is your defense, then you should ASK SOMEONE WHO HAS BEEN THERE about the amazing.

(You are reading my blog on the Yntarnet right now, so I know you have time at this very moment to ask Twitter or Facebook. And this entry gives you blanket permission to come out and confess it. Say it with me, it’s difficult, but it feels good: “I have no idea what w00tstock is.” Ahhhh. Isn’t that better?)

It is unlike a con. It is unlike a concert. It is Nerd Vaudeville.
It is a Variety Show of interesting things that you never knew you were dying to see
like Chewbacca playing guitar and Marian in heels
and real mad scientists in Halloween costumes.
It is the unmatched synergy of the modern Superheroes and Sidekicks of Wit
at your service.

So.

Short of picking your pockets personally
(a chore I’ve neither skill nor time for)
I cannot remedy your pathetic ticketless situation by force —
So I haunt street corners and plague subway cars
late at night, haggard, halitosid, attempting to foist on you
limp and possibly snotty pamphlets
detailing the amazements you will miss
if you stay home and watch “Doctor Who” episodes again
which you have already seen three times sober
(and once (or possibly twice) while intoxicated).

Here, transcribed, with only virtual snot, is the text of my dirty subway pamphlet:

THE W00TSTOCK IS NEAR! THE DAY IS APPROACHING! PREPARE YOUR SOUL! (mandatory)

My 2010 tour will consist primarily of house concerts. Yet most of my listeners have never attended a house concert. Even fewer have hosted. So what’s the deal? Here’s the deal.

Let’s go back in time, back to the millenia before television brought Mick Jagger at halftime into your living room through a glowy blue box. If you wanted live music, you had to make ithappen in your own house, yard, church, pub, temple, piazza, or outhouse. The best modern equivalent is a house concert. I’m not saying those old days were better, but I am saying it’s probably been too long since you’ve listened to fantastic music up close and live in a quiet environment — that’s a transformative experience. It’s way different than going out, way different than listening to MP3’s, way different than anything the glowy blue box can bring you. And you still make it happen.

I’ve played dozens and dozens of house concerts now, and 90% of them were with hosts who had never organized a house concert before. So don’t say you can’t do it — you can! It’s entirely simple, cheap for everyone, friendly, fun, environmentally smart, economically smart — and the food and alcohol are way better and cheaper than what you get going out.

How does it work? You contact an artist, set a date, get them your address, invite your friends by e-mail and take RSVP’s, plan for food or drinks (if you want to), and then I show up, set up my gear, and play for you!

Things prospective house concert hosts ALWAYS say to me:

“I’d love to, but my house is too small.” EVERY host says this at first. No, it’s not. I’ve done house concerts for 5 people in a tiny cabin in Alaska and for 25 in an even smaller crowded standing-room-only flat in Hollywood, with everyone shoulder-to-shoulder. I’ve even played a dorm room. Your house can fit way more people than you think.

“I’ve never done anything like that before.” You probably have. Take any kind of house party you can think of — a drunken BYOB bash, a child-friendly family potluck, a birthday party with presents, a backyard BBQ, a fancy wine and cheese event — and just imagine that the theme of the afternoon/evening is music. The artist (me) will provide absolutely everything related to the music part of the show; all you do is put on a very normal party, invite people, set out drinks, and wait for all of us to show up.

“I don’t know if I want strangers in my house.” No need to have any (besides me). You can have a private event, just for your friends and family. Or you can host it at a local community center, school, place of worship, park, swimming pool — anywhere! People get all sorts of creative, using these concerts for fundraisers, community events, conventions, kids’ time, etc. The host sets the parameters.

“It will take so much time!” Well, it can, but it doesn’t have to. I’ve played some elaborate, carefully coordinated house concerts, and some that the hosts just let happen. Potlucks and BBQ’s, especially, are low-to-no maintenance and take only a few e-mails to coordinate. To get everything you need to compose the invitation and promote the show, see the “Publicity Tools” tab above.

“My place is a mess.” Everyone says this, and everyone is lying. By the time I arrive you’ve usually scrambled for thirty minutes and made it look lovely. (If you need an excuse to clean up, this would be it…)

“You can’t come to my town, I’m out of the way.” People who contact me and ask nicely usually get me to come sooner or later. If you’re out of the way, just guarantee me a certain number of people in attendance, or a certain amount of money (surprisingly little) and I’ll make it happen. As long as I don’t lose money coming to your town, I will probably be game!

“Wow, that was amazing and special and unforgettable. And it was so much easier than I thought!” I hear this Every. Single. Time.

Most hosts and guests are thrilled by their first house concert. Get out to one in your area if you want an idea of how they go! There are lots of normal folks like you beginning to host monthly or quarterly concerts because they’ve found it’s so easy, fun, and memorable. Artists love to be asked to do house concerts — after the bars-and-cafes grind, they’re a pleasure. Your favorite local artist would probably be thrilled to play one for you. Why not ask? Ask me anytime: visit this blog entry to actually request a concert, or e-mail mcminion42@gmail.com to ask questions.*

Answers to FAQ’s are below if you’re thinking of hosting. If you’ve hosted or attended a house concert before, do leave your thoughts in the comments!

- What do I need to provide? Just some comfortable space where people can stand or sit and mingle, and later listen attentively to music. Consider what your sort of crowd would be comfortable with. You also need to provide at least some of the people — most house concerts are populated by the host’s friend and social circle, though occasionally one will be promoted as a public event and I will invite other fans to RSVP.

- What’s the food and drink situation? This is completely up to you. I’ve played at fully catered gourmet dinners, potlucks, barbecues, desserts, wine tastings, and even afternoon or late evening events which had no real food — only beverages and cookies. Anything goes, as long as your guests are prepared for what to bring and what will be available.

- How does the event flow? Usually the event starts with about forty-five minutes to an hour of mingling and food and drink. When the moment feels right (or right on the clock, however you like it) you invite people to claim their space for the show, and I begin performing. I usually do two forty-five minute sets with a break (so as not to wear down guests’ attention span. I am very generous with my tunes; if folks are engaged I’ll go as long as the audience likes and do any and every request I can). During the show at some point, I invite people to give money, usually $10-15, and/or buy CD’s, and I leave it at that. The host can keep their hands clean of the money business for the most part; I’m used to doing it myself. After the show people mingle some more, in varying stages of sobriety, sometimes staying all night and sometimes going home right away. When everyone’s gone usually you and I crack one last beer or heat one last cup of tea and sigh and chat about how fun the evening was. Then I drive away (or sleep on your couch, depending) and provided your guests are the good kind, you’re left with minimal mess.

– How do I promote the event? Do I have to post my personal information on the internet? You can make your event private — only for people you know — or public. If it’s public, I will advertise it, but I will not post your name or address on the web unless you ask me to. Usually prospective guests can get the address in exchange for a firm RSVP by e-mail. (And my fans are awesome people that you’d want to meet anyway.) To get the word out, e-mail invites and a Facebook event usually do the trick; some folks use a service like evite, but I’ve almost never seen that go very well. The very best promotion in the world is word of mouth. If you’re excited, your friends will be too. I’m happy to help with a free MP3 for invitees, plus all the links and photos and posters you could want — or a spiffy e-mail/web invite like the one below. Plus I’m happy to give you CD’s and bonus things. House Concert hosts get Marian Call perks of all kinds — just ask!

UPDATED: for help writing an invitation or get official images, posters, etc., just click on the tab at the top of this page called “Publicity Tools.” Everything you need is there (scroll down to the bottom).

Things it’s important to clarify when you invite people: 1) this will be a house concert, not a house party, and the music is the feature event; 2) bring your own (chair, food, beer, kids, whatever they should bring, as people want to know); 3) whether kids are welcome, and if they are, whether childcare will be provided.

– What about the *gulp* money? Awkward… I understand completely. Asking guests for $$ is awful. If you mention it up front, in the e-mail invitation, it’s actually less awkward — and if you leave a basket at the door, instead of passing the hat, again, less awkward. People don’t like letting other people watch them pay. A good way to phrase the invitation is to say there’s a “$10-15 per person recommended donation for the artist, pay-as-you-can.” I’ll reinforce that with a friendly announcement that I’m used to making. I never begrudge folks coming and not paying, or paying less than $10. But I do have to make ends meet. So the idea is to prepare guests for what to expect before you’re speaking to them in person. I don’t require a minimum guarantee, unless I’m flying far afield, but if you think you might have less than 12-15 people, it’s good to tell me that directly, since that may affect what other shows I look for in the area or what date I book with you.

– Can I really do this? Absolutely! And to paraphrase most of my house concert hosts from around the country, it’s a fantastic and memorable and [insert many glowing adjectives here] experience. You’ll be so glad you did. So will I. I’m proud of you!

*To inquire about booking a house concert with me, visit this blog entry and follow the instructions. I don’t respond to Facebook or Myspace booking requests, nor Twitter DM’s; it’s not official booking business ’til it’s in my real inbox at mcminion42@gmail.com. Also: you may hear from an assistant of mine sometimes, but rest assured I’m overseeing all correspondence that goes on.

P.S.: this is an old invite for a show in 2009. But don’t worry Arizona, I’ll be visiting you in June!

***Update, by request: you can see my rough calendar dates on this Google calendar or at http://mariancall.com/tour.php. If you want me to come visit, tell some friends about me!***

Marian Call’s Official Blog

I'm a singer-songwriter who likes to be engaged in all the arts and the business of the arts. All my official stuff (including my other "random thoughts" Wordpress blog, http://mariancallmarginalia.wordpress.com) can be found at MarianCall.com or most major networking sites.